AusBonsai

hi all im looking for infomation on taking cuttings or air layering an english oak i have in my backyard. im looking to take large layers around 20 cm in diameter. any help would be appreciated as ive never tried air layering but have read about taking layers but havent found anything specific to english oak. thanks for your help in advance.

http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Quercus.html

Apparently its not so easy to airlayer oaks. Let us know if it works when you try though.

James

thanks for that, not easy how is it that they take a long time or dont they want to root and tend to die

I tried layering some english oak about 15yrs ago.. half of them died on the tree, a few produced calous but no roots and one actually managed to produce a few meagre roots. This took 12mths & I couldnt wait any longer so removed them all, one of the caloused ones did produce root & grew for almost 2yrs before succumbing to a fungal infection... the rest died soon after removal.

Ok so thats history, I would do things differently now...not ringbark but use the sliver/window approach, removing sections from the bark leaving bridges to continue feeding the upper portion & use a free draining soil mix in a pot, instead of bagging sphagnum moss around it.

With oak being the fickle beast they are, try a few smaller bits to get some practice & see what works for you. Do one by each method & with various mediums so you can guage the results for yourself & of course share them with the rest of us...

Good luck, I look forward to hearing of your methods & success (or otherwise), I learn more from failure than success

thanks for that matt, the tree isnt going anywhere so time isnt a problem. ill try the sliver/window approach as you suggest, ive seen a video of lindsey farr doing something similar to a tree he had so ill reference that when i try the layers. why would you use soil instead of spag moss is it more likely to help the roots along or is it just easyer to care for. ill also try the smaller layers as you sugest. would i be right in assuming that i should try the layers in spring rather than starting them in autum or winter.

i just grow the english oak by seed and plant in ground for 3 years and it gets a nice 3-4 inch trunk
in that time but you need to do root work to it in winter to remove the main tap root otherwise you wont get the thing
out of the ground
cheers dean

hi de keizer,
Spring is a better time to do the aerial layer. Spagnum moss is the first thing i use. Once the roots have grown, I add the soil to the spag to get the growth off to a better start before i take it off the tree.
I think you will have better success in the spring. Let us know how it goes.

hi dragon im also trying to grow oak from seed aswell but id like to try the layer aswell as it should produce a different type of material than something grown from seen. petra thanks for replying its good to know that my gut was right when it came to spring, and yes ill post if i have success or failure

Hey Fellow Oak Enthusiasts,

Just wondering if anyone has had success with layering oaks in the end?

- Daniel

Yes, layer as you would most species. I've had the best success with this mainly by starting the process around the beginning of spring.

These two were layers from the same tree.



I began the process in September 2019, separating them from the host in January 2020. So they took around 3-4 months for me. I used my usual method of sphagnum moss soaked in water with a drop of seasol for good luck, wrapped in glad wrap then foil. Good luck